If you have wandered the halls of Buckkeep alongside FitzChivalry Farseer, felt your heart ache with each of his sacrifices, and emerged from Robin Hobb’s world wondering where you might find such companionship again—dear reader, you are not alone. For those who have loved deeply in the Realm of the Elderlings seek ever after for stories that understand what Hobb knows so well: that the greatest adventures are those of the heart.
Come then, and let us discover together the books that might fill that peculiar emptiness left when one closes the final page of a beloved tale.
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
Here is a book that understands, as Hobb understands, that broken men make the most fascinating heroes. Lord Cazaril returns from years as a galley slave, seeking only a quiet corner in which to heal his wounds. But fate—or perhaps the five gods who watch over this Spanish-inspired realm—has grander plans.
When Cazaril becomes tutor to the spirited Royesse Iselle, he discovers a curse hanging over the royal house, one that only the darkest magic might lift. Bujold writes with the patience of falling snow, letting character bloom before plot. A Hugo nominee that will remind you why you fell in love with Fitz’s quiet courage.
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams
Before there was FitzChivalry, there was Simon—a kitchen boy in the castle of the Hayholt who dreams of adventure and receives far more than he bargained for. When the High King dies and his son makes a terrible bargain with the undead Storm King, Simon finds himself swept into a quest for three legendary swords.
This is the trilogy that taught George R.R. Martin himself how epic fantasy might be written. Williams balances the intimate and the grand with a master’s hand, understanding that the most sweeping tales must be anchored by small, human moments. A foundational work that shaped modern fantasy.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Kvothe sits in his inn, a legend hiding in plain sight, and tells his story to a chronicler over three days. From his childhood among traveling performers to his desperate years as an orphan, to his audacious entrance into a legendary school of magic—this is a coming-of-age tale wrapped in beautiful prose.
The similarity to Fitz’s journey is unmistakable: both are young men with extraordinary gifts and terrible luck, both narrate their own histories with rueful hindsight. Rothfuss writes with a poet’s ear, and if you loved watching Fitz grow, you will love watching Kvothe learn that knowledge is both salvation and curse.
The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
Now here is something different—a tale for those who appreciated the darker currents running beneath Hobb’s work. Logen Ninefingers is a barbarian trying to escape his bloody past. Sand dan Glokta is a crippled torturer with a sardonic wit. Jezal dan Luthar is a nobleman who has never known hardship.
Abercrombie throws these unlikely companions together in a world where heroes are hard to find and harder to trust. The writing crackles with dark humor, and the characters are rendered with such complexity that you shall find yourself cheering for the torturer. For readers who loved the moral ambiguity of the Farseer world.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
In the Venice-like city of Camorr, a band of thieves called the Gentleman Bastards fleece the nobility with elaborate cons. Their leader, Locke Lamora, is a master of disguise and deception who has never met a scheme too audacious to attempt.
But when a mysterious figure called the Grey King threatens everything Locke holds dear, the con artist must become something more. This is fantasy at its most entertaining—witty, warm, and full of camaraderie that recalls the bond between Fitz and his companions. The found family at its heart will feel achingly familiar.
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
Moon has spent his entire life hiding what he is—a shapeshifter who can transform into a winged creature. Cast out by every community he’s tried to join, he believes himself the last of his kind. Then a stranger appears who recognizes him, promising Moon a place among his own people at last.
Martha Wells has created a world unlike any other, populated by dozens of sapient species in a realm of floating islands and ancient mysteries. The Raksura series has been called the closest thing to rival Hobb’s lush worldbuilding. For readers who want something fresh and strange and deeply moving.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip
On a mountain in the land of Eldwold lives Sybel, a young wizard attended by creatures of legend: a riddling boar, a treasure-mad dragon, a great lyon, a vengeful falcon. She desires only to add the mysterious Liralen to her collection—until a man brings her a baby to raise, and love enters her isolated world.
McKillip writes with prose that shimmers like starlight on water. This World Fantasy Award winner is brief but powerful, a meditation on love, revenge, and the price of power. For those who long for mesmerizing prose with slow, character-driven arcs, McKillip is essential reading.
The Bone Ships by RJ Barker
In a world where ships are built from dragon bones and the great creatures have been extinct for generations, a disgraced captain and her crew of condemned sailors receive impossible news: a dragon has been sighted. The hunt begins.
Readers seeking something akin to Hobb’s Liveship Traders will find kinship here. Barker has crafted a seafaring fantasy that won the British Fantasy Award, full of complex characters and a richly imagined world where the bond between ship and crew runs as deep as blood. Nautical fantasy at its finest.
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
What if the prophesied hero failed, and the Dark Lord won? A thousand years later, ash falls from the sky, the sun is red, and an immortal tyrant rules over a world of nobles and enslaved workers. Into this darkness comes Kelsier, a thief with a plan to do the impossible: rob the Lord Ruler blind and spark a revolution.
Sanderson’s inventive magic system—swallowing and “burning” metals to gain powers—is as intricate as anything in the Elderling books. Young Vin, the street urchin who discovers she is Mistborn, carries echoes of Fitz’s journey from nothing to something remarkable.
Dreaming the Eagle by Manda Scott
Young Breaca of the Eceni tribe stands between worlds—warrior and dreamer, daughter and future queen. In first-century Britain, she will grow to become Boudica, the legendary warrior who united the Celtic tribes against Rome.
Scott draws from British mythology to craft a world where animals are sacred, druids walk between realms, and honor is worth dying for. Her painterly prose will remind Hobb devotees why they fell in love with richly detailed historical fantasy. An emotional journey through a vanished world.
Wolfblade by Jennifer Fallon
Marla Wolfblade is fifteen, the sister of a decadent High Prince, and in this fiercely patriarchal society, little more than a valuable political asset. But when a court dwarf begins teaching her the rules of gaining and wielding power, Marla begins her transformation from naive noblewoman to one of the most formidable players in the realm.
Fallon delivers court intrigue and character development that will satisfy readers who loved the political machinations of Hobb’s work. Watch Marla grow from youth to middle age across a trilogy rich with anti-heroes and the kind of slow-burn character work that makes Robin Hobb so beloved.
The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon
Paks is eighteen, stubborn as stone, and determined to be a soldier despite her father’s plans to marry her off. She runs away to join a mercenary company, and over three books, we watch her transform from raw recruit to one of fantasy’s most beloved paladins.
Moon served in the US Marine Corps, and her military experience shines through in remarkably realistic training sequences. This is epic fantasy focused on one character’s growth, told with warmth and conviction. For those who loved watching Fitz find his purpose, Paks’s journey offers the same satisfaction.
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
On the shattered plains of Roshar, a war has raged for years. Kaladin, a former soldier now enslaved, must survive the brutal storms and brutal masters who see him as expendable. Meanwhile, a young scholar seeks ancient secrets, and an assassin carries out impossible murders.
Sanderson builds worlds on a massive scale, but never loses sight of the human hearts beating within them. If you want the scope of the Realm of the Elderlings stretched even wider, the Stormlight Archive offers thousands of pages of character-driven epic fantasy. Begin here if you have the appetite for it.
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
A shepherd named Rand al’Thor lives in a quiet village until the night monsters from legend attack his home. Fleeing into a wider world with an Aes Sedai sorceress and her warrior guardian, Rand discovers that ancient prophecies may speak of him—and that the Dark One himself is stirring.
Jordan’s Wheel of Time launched a thousand fantasy careers. The epic scope, the detailed magic system, the intimate focus on characters growing into their destinies—it shares much with Hobb’s sensibilities, though the canvas is vaster still. A cornerstone of the genre.
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
In the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, summer can last decades and winter can kill. When the Hand of the King dies mysteriously, Lord Eddard Stark is called south, and his children scattered to the winds. What follows is a tale of ambition, betrayal, and the terrible cost of honor.
Martin has named Tad Williams as an influence, and readers often travel between his work and Hobb’s. Both authors understand that character drives everything, that consequences matter, and that the most powerful stories leave us changed. If you somehow have not yet visited Westeros, the time has come.
Finding Your Next Adventure
Each of these books understands what Robin Hobb taught us: that fantasy at its finest is not about swords and sorcery alone, but about the hearts that wield them. Whether you choose the political intrigue of Chalion, the nautical adventure of the Bone Ships, or the epic scope of Stormlight, you shall find characters worth loving and worlds worth exploring.
The Elderling books set a standard few can match—but these authors have risen to the challenge, each in their own way. May your next reading adventure be as rich and rewarding as your time with Fitz and the Fool.
